Upcoming Agent-Judged Contest!

Howdy, people!

Okay, so over on the QueryTracker blog, we've got another agent-judged contest coming up.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 27 (not today! TUESDAY, APRIL 27. That's not even tomorrow.)

WHO: Chris Richman, from the fabulous Upstart Crow Literary Agency.

WHAT: One-sentence pitch of your YA/MG novel.

WHERE: On the QueryTracker blog (not here!). You must be a follower of the QT blog to enter, because Mr. Richman has NOT capped the entries!! That's right, people, no cap! The contest will remain open for 24 hours, and if we get 600 entries, so be it!

So get your novel distilled down to your best one-sentence pitch and join us on Tuesday, April 27.

Do we know how to throw a contest or what?? And do I use too many exclamation points or what?!? Whatever (or what?). Go get your pitch ready!

Breeding Authenticity

All right (ha! Switched it up on ya!), so we've been talking about how to build a better blog. I told you what I've done to attract more readers to my blog.

But really, it all comes down to one thing: authenticity. The ability to make your blog unlike the fifty thousand others that are out there--which I might point out, is something you must do with your writing too.

So let's go.

I've seen some people asking other people for what they'd like to see on Person A's blog. Yeah, that makes sense. Let me clarify. Person A blogs. Asks Persons B - Z what they'd like to see on Person A's blog.

Disclaimer: This is not bad. Remember that it's not all about you.

However, when I see this, little alarms start going off in my head.

Why?

A) YOU should know who your audience is.
B) Once you know who your audience is, YOU should be able to come up with content to please that audience. You shouldn't have to ask.

Disclaimer #2: That doesn't mean you can't, of course. If just means that maybe I think I already know what you want to read here, and so I just do it. Or I figure that if you don't like what you read here, you'll maybe stick around because of my fabulous hair and eventually find something you do like. *wink*

I also think you shouldn't have to ask because of:

1) Confidence. I am insanely confident, this I know (unless you've emailed with me recently, in which case, shutty). I don't have to ask what you guys want to see on my blog, because I'm confident I already know. (And I suppose that if I'm wrong--gasp!--I just figure maybe tomorrow will be the day I'm right. Who knows?)

2) Authenticity. I know who I am. There is no one else like me, and there is no way on this planet that someone could write their blog (or a novel) the way I do.

These two areas are where you need to focus to breed authenticity into your blog (and your writing).

Now before you start bowing down and proclaiming that I'm all that and a bag of chips (which I'm so not), let me relate a story.

About 16 months ago, me and a group of friends started writing for the QueryTracker blog. It was epic. Awesomesauce. But inside I had a swarm of bees stinging me with these words, "You're different. You're no expert. What do you know?"

*sting sting sting*

I'm sure I bored my blog co-authors (who are DOCTORS and LAWYERS) with my whiny emails about how I was nothing.

But really, it came down to this: I am different. And I do know stuff (boy, that sounds so...smart. Ha!).

And the stinging faded into the distance. I can say, "I was nothing," in the past tense. Because I am something now.

I am Elana Johnson.

Who are you? Do you know who you are? Do you have confidence that what you say can NOT be said by someone else? If not, how do you think you gain that confidence? How do you find out who you are? And once you have these two things, does that influence the way you write? (I totally think so, by the way. But maybe that's another post...??)

Okay, So Dude, I Know

I know, I know. I said I wasn't going to blog today. And I'm not. I just wanted to give you all a heads-up about something going on over on the QueryTracker blog on Monday.

Jason Yarn at Paradigm Literary Agency is hosting our next contest!

The contest will open on Monday, March 29 at 12 Noon EST. When? MONDAY. Not today. MONDAY.

You’ll be submitting a one-line pitch and the first paragraph of your manuscript. The contest is open to all genres except short stories and romance. Mr. Yarn is accepting 100 entries.

Some advice from Mr. Yarn as you prepare your submission for Monday:

• Be careful if you make your one-line pitch a question. It’s not verboten, but asking me something I can answer ‘No’ to is always a dangerous thing.
• Don’t be flabby – be concrete. Meaning, your pitch line shouldn’t be full of generic clichés like ‘Fate’ and ‘Doom’ without being tied to a concrete story element or character.
• Your pitch should drive me to read your first paragraph and your first paragraph should make me feel like I’ll die if I don’t see more – you don’t need to tell your entire story in either part, just addict me to wanting to find out what happens next. Good luck!

Mr. Yarn will review the entries and choose up to five winners. He’ll be critiquing your query letter and the first 10 pages of your manuscript! We anticipate announcing the winners on Friday, April 9 on the QueryTracker blog.

Dude, guys! All of this is happening MONDAY on the QUERYTRACKER BLOG. So go follow us over there!

But I'm sort of in charge of the contest and wanted you to know so you could, you know, get your pitches and paragraphs ready. *wink*

Have a lovely!

Assuming An Alternate Identity - The Professional

I'm pretty sure I've spilled this secret before: When I first started blogging, I didn't want anyone to know. I wasn't confident that what I had to say, people wanted to read. Well, I'm still not entirely sure about that, but yeah. I love blogging, and reading blogs, and just saying the word blog. And so here I am.

Back then, I certainly didn't think of myself as a "professional."

I do now.

Part of that has come through time and experience as I've participated in writing groups, forums, research and just personal writing growth. Wow. That last one sounds soooo impressive. Ha ha!

Anyway, then I started writing for the QueryTracker blog. I sort of went through the same thing. I'm no expert, ran through my head time and again.

And you know what?

I was wrong.

I swear I'm not bragging, but I am an expert in some things. So here's my question for today: Do you think of yourself as an expert--a professional? What has helped you make the transition from "I love to write" to "I am an author"?

I'm curious because I received an email from someone last week while I was out of town. In it, she said, "We're not professionals." and that struck me as wrong on so many levels. I think to make it in this crazy business, you need to don the suit of professionalism, put out the vibe of Expert, you know? If you don't view yourself as a writing professional, why should anyone else?

What do you guys think? Can you assume an alternate identity of a professional--at least until you really feel like one?

5 Hours and Counting...

Okay, guys. I know you've heard of it. Or maybe you haven't. Either way, the one-line pitch contest over on the QueryTracker Blog has five hours left (well, four hours and 59 minutes, but only OCD-ers like me care about that). You've got to check out the rules, cuz the genres are a bit limited this time.

And, uh, yeah, I'm supposed to post on Wednesday, and I'm coming up blank. B-l-a-n-k. Any ideas you want me to pontificate on? *snarf* Like I don't have enough pontification (hey, that's not underlined in red...) going on over here. lol But no. Really. What do you want to know? I can haz research.

But don't spend too much stewage time on me and my woes of lame-o postage for Wednesday. Go enter the contest! It has a slick online form this time. Totally schweet! I'm so glad I know Patrick McDonald. He has made my life (and all the QT bloggers' lives) easier. Thanks Pat!

Wait. Why are you still here? Got an idea for the QT blog? Comment! Comment!

Interview with Literary Agent Anna Webman

Most of you know that I'm an author of the QueryTracker blog. If you haven't checked it out, you totally should. It's a wealth of knowledge and experience (if I do say so myself).

One of my co-authors, Suzette Saxton, posted this interview with Anna Webman. I'm going to repost it here because it's just that awesome. Enjoy!

I first met Anna Webman last August when I had the honor of sharing some of my work with her. She was an absolute delight to correspond with. When the time came for me ask agents for interviews, Ms. Webman was at the top of my list.

From Curtis Brown LTD's website:

Anna Webman began at Curtis Brown working with Elizabeth Harding, and is now an
associate agent. Anna has a small, select list and is interested in all
categories of children's books authors and illustrators. She is always on the
lookout for first-time authors and is particularly interested in stories with
unique voices with something to say. Her ideal book would be one that has both a
driving narrative and beautiful language. Anna graduated from The George
Washington University and lives in Manhattan with her rescue dog Vinny.You may
recognize some of the interview questions; several weeks ago in a shout-out
to our readers you weighed in on what questions you'd like us to pose to
agents.

Without further ado, I give you the interview:

Why agenting? A lifelong dream, or something that happened serendipitously?

I was raised by a literary agent, so I guess you could say it’s in my genes. I think it took me a little while to come to terms with the fact that I actually wanted to work in the same industry as my mother. When I first began working as Elizabeth Harding’s assistant, I thought I might want to eventually move over to the editorial side. After a few months I was hooked—I really love the business side of things: working with creative people, reading, editing, negotiating, matching author’s works with an editor and a house, and figuring out how best to help clients manage their careers.

What would you like to see more of as an agent? As a reader?

As an agent, I would like to see more quality writing and to sell books that I respond to so immediately and thoroughly that I can’t put them down or stop thinking about them. As a reader, I would like exactly the same thing.What's the most common mistake you see authors making in their queries? I think it’s probably not staying on topic. I get so many queries where authors give a lot of superfluous information about themselves. Track record is significant, but other than that, for fiction, the manuscript should speak for itself. Another common mistake I see is authors not addressing their query letter to me (I can’t tell you how often I receive letters addressed Dear “Mr. Curtis Brown”, “Editor” or “Agent”).

What’s the one thing an author can do to catch your eye? How can authors get agents to look beyond the query letter?

A compelling query letter, with no typos is a good place to start. And then to make sure to send the first couple pages of a manuscript along with the query letter.What is projected to be the next big thing in publishing for children and teens? What trend do you see dying? I really don’t think it’s possible to know for sure what the “next big thing” will be. I think perhaps mysteries because they really have been underserved and there seems to be a market for them—Perhaps what will work for this market is mysteries with other elements-like Scholastic’s 39 CLUES series or Harper’s THE AMANDA PROJECT. Another growth area might be novels illustrated in interesting ways- not graphic novels, but other kinds of illustration with narrative. For example, THE DOLL PEOPLE by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, illustrated by Brian Selznick.

Is it possible to do YA without the "edgy" element? What is too edgy in YA?

Yes! I do absolutely think great YA can be done without being edgy. I shared this with some colleagues and we couldn’t think of anything that is too edgy these days. The canvas is very big and wide open. Perhaps the only caveat is that there should be an element of ultimate triumph/hope rather than despair.

Do you often choose to represent works that only you would personally read and enjoy or do you aim to represent works that you know will sell, even if you don't like them?

It’s a very fine line. I’ve found that I’m most successful in representing authors whose work I either love personally or whose appeal I understand in an intuitive way. However, this is such a subjective business, so I don’t want to limit myself. Fortunately, those also tend to be books that I believe will sell.

With the economic slow down as it is, are you signing fewer new clients and focusing on the ones you already have?

I am still building my list, so I am definitely looking for new clients. Honestly, I don’t know of any agent who would ever say their list is completely full, regardless of the economy. Who wants to be known as the agent who turned down the next big literary phenomenon?

Do you ever get a chance to read for fun? What book do you not represent that you wish you did?

I always to try to be in the process of reading one “for pleasure” adult book (it can take me months to actually complete an entire book). And I’m also constantly reading the current YA, middle-grade and picture books, which is both fun and a great way to stay on top of the market.

If you could offer one piece of advice to aspiring authors everywhere, what would it be?

I think it would be to read as many books as possible in the genre you write, and then be able to openly accept criticism and learn from it.

And now, just for fun, I'll hit you with the Fast Five:

Coffee or tea? Coffee
Courier or Times New Roman? Times New Roman
Cruise or Self-Guided Tour? Self-Guided Tour
3 chapters or 50 pages? 3 chapters
Guilty pleasure? Watching Gossip Girl and shopping online

Anna, thank you so much for taking the time to give our readers a glimpse into the uber-secret world of agents. Readers, be sure to mention the QueryTracker Blog when you query Ms. Webman.

For those of you unfamiliar with the QueryTracker.net main site, everything you need to know about querying Ms. Webman is here, including links to Publishers Marketplace, AAR, the Curtis Brown LTD website, and many others. With a free membership, QueryTracker.net helps you find agents and track your queries. To get up to speed on the what, why and who of QueryTracker, read this post.Have a fantastic week!

Thanks for conducting a great interview Suzette!